|
Naturopathic Medicine is organically
, and biologically conforming with the way nature’s
laws work. It inspires respect for life. It emphasises
an interconnection between all living
creatures, which depend on an harmonic relationship with
each other, the world,
and the universe.
Naturopathic key principles include “identify
and treat the causes”, “first
do no harm”, and “doctor as teacher”. The basis philosophical
premise of naturopathic medicine is that there is an inherent
power in nature and in every human being. It is the physician’s
role to bring out or enhance this innate healing power within
their patients. The healing power of nature is often called:
the elan vital, the vital
force or vis medicatrix naturae.
Naturopathic Medicine:
Through functional medicine we have worked to
develop an approach to health care which can be incorporated
into the everyday
practice. The emerging science of today has blurred distinctions
among organs,
and separation of function into different compartments
is less useful as a concept. We now know, for example,
that identical signalling molecules
are released and received by all organ systems, and each
influences the function of others. The view of the body
as a collection of separate,
interconnected parts is being replaced by the image of
the body as a hologram.
The validation of naturopathic medicine
 In
the past 10 years, medicine has witnessed a revolution
in molecular biology. We know
now, for example, that modifiers of gene
expression are produced not only by different organs
but also by exposure to various
agents in the diet and environment, including chemicals
and electromagnetic radiation. This new view of health
focuses on maintaining metabolic
integrity and homeodynamics. Homeodynamics as a principle
of functional medicine contrast with the concept of homeostasis
in conventional medicine.
Homeodynamics posits a similar control system functioning
to maintain biochemical individuality. Applied to the
body, the term homeodynamics
describes a range of continuously occurring metabolic
and physiological activities that enable an individual
to adapt to changing circumstances,
stresses, and experiences. Metabolic integrity and homeodynamics
rest on the principle of dynamic freedom characterized
by interconnectedness, omni potentiality, diversity,
and redundancy of function.
Loss or decline
in any of these parameters can be seen as an altered
state of health. Altered physiological diversity, for example,
translates to a loss
of metabolic freedom and a subsequent state of lower
health reserve.
A change of focus from conventional medicine to naturopathic
medicine
In
naturopathic medicine assessing health depends on measuring
this reserve rather than evaluating pathology. Whether changing
conditions involving time, temperature, electromagnetic
energy gradients, infective
organisms, or trauma will lower degrees of metabolic
freedom is a question that can be answered only in the context
of the individual and his
or her ability to maintain reserve and avoid reduced
stability that comes from lost potential.
Why choose a naturopathic physician
You will be assessed and treated
from a functional perspective. Functional medicine focused
on dynamic processes that underlie and
proceed the pathological state. Naturopathic doctors
recognize diagnostic categories, but they also investigate
underlying dietary, nutritional,
lifestyle, environmental, and psycho social factors that
might alter the patient’s state of health and investigate the “purpose” behind
the expression of illness.
Illness as information in the naturopathic
medical practice:
Illness
is a functional condition. It functions as an agent for
change. Paying heed to the message that is being communicated by the
illness
enables healing to take place. In clinical practice, illness
communicates its messages in many ways, including symptoms
arising from exposure
to chemicals, rashes or breathing difficulties from consuming
food allergens, neck pain from repetitive workplace activity,
and stress induced chest pains. In making a diagnosis, the naturopathic
medical
clinician must be aware of the message being sent and approach
the patient’s illness not as an adversary to be overcome but
as information that must be understood and acted upon.
|
